Diptych - First Attempt

A few weeks ago, I was reading about a photography technique called the triptych. A triptych, and the subsequent diptych and polyptych, is a form of art that utilizes multiple frames and panels to create one piece of art. The individual frames are often related to one subject matter, however, they don't necessarily have to follow a common template. The number of frames in the picture determine the prefix of the -tych: diptych contains two frames and a triptych contains three frames and four or more panels are designated a polyptych.

Polyptychical art has its roots in ancient tradition with the movement still being used in the modern age. Traditional polyptich art was typically a wood or an ivory carving with each panel connected with a hinge for connectivity and ease of transport, but with the arrival of pigment and the canvas medium, the painted polyptych became more and more popular. Many different types of polyptychs have emerged over the years, some achieving a very popular or cult-like status. During the Renaissance, many polyptychs were created, oftentimes with a religious subject. In the Chinese culture, multiple examples of the polyptych can be seen in their ancient art. In the 1960s, the artist Andy Warhol created the Marilyn Diptych. Polyptychs can even be found by turning to the comic section of any daily newspaper.

With such a longstanding and colorful history, I decided to give this form or art a try, and here's what I came up with



This picture is a diptych taken from paneling one large picture. To capture the image, I had used a Canon EOS 40D with the EF 50mm f1.8 lens. Digital editing was done using Photoshop CS3. I had used four layers, one editing layer, one background layer, and the two color layers on the left and on the right.

This form of the diptych was not of the traditional sense. I'm hoping to create more of these things with a different composition and layout, but for now, I'm pretty happy with how this thing turned out.